Anticipation Guide
“Identity” by Julio Noboa


Read these ten assertions. For each, choose either “Agree” or “Disagree”. There are no right or wrong answers.

  1. My friends and I follow all the latest fads. disagree
  2. I have my own unique style. agree
  3. I always do what my parents and teachers expect of me. agree
  4. I will follow my own dreams, even if others try to stop me. agree
  5. I want to live with my family when I go to college. disagree
  6. I want to go to a college far from home. agree (as long as its a good college)
  7. I wouldn’t marry someone if my parents disapproved. agree
  8. I will marry whomever I choose. disagree
  9. Being popular is important. disagree
  10. I don’t care what other people say about me.agree


Let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.
To have broken through the surface of stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed, beyond the mountains of time
or into the abyss of the bizarre
I'd rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everyone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valleys,
where they're praised, handled, and plucked
by greedy, human hands.
I'd rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
If I could stand alone, strong and free,
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

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